Itanagar/Guwahati: The ruling Peoples’ Party of Arunachal (PPA) suspended chief minister Pema Khandu and six other MLAs from the party for alleged anti-party activities late on Thursday night, pushing the state towards a fresh political crisis.
The government, however, said that everything was under control, claiming support of as many as 49 of the Assembly’s 60 MLAs.
The state has been battling political instability, and there have been three CMs in the last one year.
Government spokesperson Bamang Felix claimed that 35 of the 43 PPA MLAs, 12 from the BJP, besides two others had reposed faith in the Khandu government.
The party president, however, directed the MLAs not to attend any meeting called by Mr Khandu, and said that minister Takam Pario, the state’s richest MLA, was likely to be the next chief minister.
The PPA is an alliance partner of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) government.
“Everything is going normally, and the CM still enjoys absolute majority from PPA, BJP and independent MLAs,” the spokesperson said. Mr Khandu sacked on Friday three of his cabinet ministers involved in the expulsions.
Having temporarily suspended Mr Khandu, his deputy Chhowna Mein and five other MLAs, the PPA convened a legislature party meeting in Itanagar on Friday and elected minister Takam Pario as its new leader. However, only 11 MLAs turned up for the meeting.
Stating that there was no question of a leadership change, the government spokesperson said, “We are looking at the legal aspects of the suspension of seven MLAs, including Khandu.”
“PPA is not a single-man party. Whatever decision was taken by party president Kahfa Bengia was his own. We are trying to sort out the differences among the party MLAs and our door is open for all,” he said.
The BJP said that it would support only the Khandu government in the state and would never support any other chief minister. “The sudden decision of the PPA is not acceptable to us as it was not discussed with us. In the interest of development of the state and its people, BJP cannot be a party to change of government every six months,” BJP legislature party leader Tamiyo Taga said.
Arunachal has been battling political instability since December last year when Congress dissidents revolted against former chief minister Nabam Tuki. Congress rebel Kalikho Pul became the CM in February with the help of 11 BJP lawmakers.
The Congress then moved the Supreme Court, which restored the Tuki government. But Mr Tuki was out within days as he did not enjoy a majority. Later Mr Pul insisted that he be reinstated as chief minister, but he later committed suicide in August. A month later, Mr Khandu walked out of the Congress with 42 lawmakers and joined the PPA.
